It costs $5 an hour on average to park in downtown Birmingham according to data from parking map website Parkopedia.com, rates from the Birmingham Parking Authority (BPA) website, and rates from the ParkMobile website.

This average excludes hotel lots with valet parking and hospital parking.

While downtown event parking in Huntsville runs for roughly the same hourly rate according to their city website, Birmingham’s regular parking costs are, on average, two to four times more expensive than Huntsville’s or Mobile’s.

A lot of the difference has to do with Birmingham’s contract with ParkMobile.

In Huntsville, city meter rates are $.50 per hour Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. In Mobile, several streets offer free on street parking for up to two hours and then meters charge $1.00 per hour after that time period.